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Highway To Mars

By Stefan Sawynok

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The Highway To Mars team explore the Universe of Science fiction, in books, movies, Television, Games, Audio and any other format they can think of.

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1

CleanPost Human Part 1

Am I alone in being over the Culture Wars? In this next set of podcasts I want to move past the dumpster fire that is the culture war to focus on what I think is the most important product of Geek Culture for the past 30 years – the race to c[...]

Gareth and Stefan continue their examination of the works of Douglas Adams with the Quintessinal phase, the last of the Douglas Adams sourced pieces of the Hitchhikers Guide. There are two ways you can go with this piece – take the material a[...]

Remember when Science Fiction used to be fun? Those were the days my friend!
I want to be clear, In this episode I am not making any comparisons with state sanctioned segregation practices of the past. I am however pretty sure that we learned in t[.

In this episode I take a deeper examination of the Women in Fridges trope and how it is a classic example of how we have lost the art of communicating our problems, and solution building in this era of outrage.

Gareth and Stefan restart their series on Douglas Adams at the very end of the Hitchhikers series. The book stands alone, one way or another all the post douglas materials have attempted to rewrite the end and even douglas himself had his regrets. [

I have always wanted to approach the Culture War beyond the moral arguments and look more to if there is an effect being felt, if so what is that affect and what does it mean longer term.
In this episode I reflect on the datasets that are out there [...

So what is the culture war? Unless you have been hiding under a rock you will have noticed that people aren’t very nice to each other any more and even the choice of coffee in the morning can be a polarising act. In science fiction the battl[...]

The third radio series was a surprise improvement on the book, can the fourth do the same?
A belated episode (hey it’s only 18 months overdue) we delve into the fourth radio play. As with the third, I enjoyed most of it even more than the boo[...]

Like it or not the Culture War has seeped into pretty much every part of Science Fiction. In truth I don’t have an ideological dog in the fight beyond the fact that there is no real world evidence that much of the remedies the SJW side will w[...]

It’s been a strange old year in Science Fiction where content creators decided to take on fans in different ways and virtue trumped storytelling too many times. That said there was still a lot to enjoy, if not a lot to jog the brain cells. W[...]

Collectivism is a funny thing. We have given it a go in various forms with varying degrees of harm to those involved. Generally collectivism is implemented by force because while Objectivism is arrogant when it comes to the ability for soci[...]

Ayn Rand isn’t everybodies cup of tea and I see it as somewhat ironic that before a movie was made about her book Atlas Shrugged there was the Bioshock series.
Objectivism as a philosophy has some good points, that we should deal with (objecti[...]

We have only done one musical on Highway and certainly not devoted an episode to a song but after 243 episodes – why not.
There is a specific reason for Radioactive to make the cut and it comes down to something else we haven’t really ta[...]

There is something poetic in the title of the Undiscovered Country. It speaks to pretty much every time in history and all politics. Do we fear or embrace the future.
History though tells us no matter how long we deny it, in some cases centuries, [.

1984 is pretty much the top of the list when it comes to Politics and Science Fiction. More than any other dystopian society thought of, 1984 demonstrates the evils of totalitarian societies.
However bad the western world seems and there are proble[..

Ghost in the Shell is a very influential piece, having provided many pieces of motivation for the Matrix. In truth we should have gotten to this movie before now but better late than ever. Ghost in the Shell covers off on many of the themes we hav[.

Okay, the Avengers is popcorn transhumanism but it is hella fun.
While the superhero genre can’t be taken as serious transhumanism because lets face it, nobody will become the hulk anytime soon, it does open up a huge discussion on what sort o[...]

CleanHitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy – So Long and Thanks for all the Fish

For the briefest of moments in the Hitchhikers Story, Arthur finds happiness and love. It wouldn’t last but it has been earned. This story more than any other gets into the head of Arthur and tells us what makes him tick (or f**k as the case[...]

The Daleks have been scary and ridiculous in equal measure. With their pepperpot shells and monotone robotic voice (and modern squiddy form) it’s easy to forget that they are the product of the most extreme form of transhumanist experiments.
[...]

It’s been a crazy couple of weeks and the plan to get the next heroine cast out hasn’t eventuated, even if we have recorded a lot of podcasts in the interim.
Never fear, we still have a number of episodes in the archives and here is one [...]

It’s taken us a while to make it to Star Trek but at least we picked a good story with one of the best villans of the modern era.
The Borg represt both what can be achieved with cybernetic enhancements, while at the same time embodying everyth[...]

We are entering into a time when the world of Bioshock becomes less far fetched. Genetic editing technologies such as CRISPR have the potential to seriously change the game for all of us and as science fiction comes closer to being science fact, we[..

We enter the genetics part of Transhumanism with a movie that explores the moral concerns around genetic technologies and how they might be used to favour the elite. While it’s a shorter movie, it covers the subject really well and is very cl[...]

Generally we talk Science Fiction on Highway to Mars but this week I found science fiction lagging behind on what I think could well be the most important issues of our time. If Transhumanism seems somewhat SF that is only because the developments [..

Limitless reads like one of those dodgy clickbait adds on the internet – but it’s actually a lot smarter than that. I like Bradley Cooper as an actor and I think that the Cooper – Deniro combination is one of my favourites in mode[...]

In the first of our new series on how science fiction influences history we look at Star Trek.
Star Trek is “THE” science fiction series. No other series has been as influential in the real world nor has any other series taken as much e[...]

We had to get to Lucy at some point.
In my first review of Lucy I was quite critical of the movie because it pretty much not only ignores existing neuroscience in favour of fantasy, it tries to dress itself up as good science.
Luc Besson goes so far[...

“Reunion” kind of implies that Rick and I have met each other which is not quite the case. We have talked many times over skype including video so we knew each other but this was the first time in the flesh. It was a great experience t[...]

Transcendence brings to an end the main part of the Transhumanism section, though we have a good number of episodes to go, they will be exploring specific topics.
Transcendence brings to light all of the issues that come both with Transhumanism and [...

I don’t get it. How can a book I pretty much hate go to being a radio play I adore? That is Douglas for you. I guess when it comes down to it, Douglas was most at home with Radio where with the help of a good producer and a dash of decent e[...

Avatar is a funny movie. It’s the most successful movie ever, yet nobody really talks about it. That is mostly because it’s the world building and not the story that people remember.
Not that I see that as a problem. The fact that peo[...]

Something different for Highway to Mars an interview. Nick Page is the YouTuber responsible for the fantastic animated sequences that bring the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy radio series to life. While Nicks work is essentially fan videos which [.

We have just had an interesting experience in outrage in Australia with the census. Something so boring has been handled so badly that it will take years to rebuild trust with the community.
The thing about “outrage” though is why? So [...]

The Matrix delves much further into Transhumanism in the second outing as the machine world. While parts 2&3 of the matrix have their flaws to me they are complex and nuanced views of the future of machine and human politics. More importantly [...]

The matrix fits somewhere between Transhumanism and the Singularity. While it delves into the machine world in a way no movie has before, it also delves into what it means to go beyond the normal definition of what it means to be human. I with the[.

CleanHitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy – Life, The Universe and Everything

Life, Don’t talk to me about life. That is unless you add a dash of Universe and lashings of Everything. Cricket is not the most exciting sport. In fact, they had to cut it down to nothing just to get people to watch it. So why you would w[...

William Gibson has to get a look in if you are going to talk transhumanism, it’s just unfortunate that there isn’t an entry that better showcases Gibsons skills than 1995’s Johnny Mnemonic. None the less the core of Gibsons ideas [...]

This was I think the best piece we did under the Martians are Here. It had a great story – Zombies told with a serious tone and by this stage we had a clear creative vision of what we wanted to achieve. While it’s a simple enough piece[...]

We finally made it to a new topic, Transhumanism and where better to start than the 1982 classic Blade Runner. What is a life lived half as long but twice as bright? We will never know but what we do know is it ends dramatically no matter how you [.

The last entry into the Singularity is the honorary epilogue. This is a pretty typical 1950s science fiction story of boy being meets girl being and they fall in love while all around them the world is going to hell in a hand basket at the hands of [...

Star Trek is one of the tent pole science fiction series that is loved around the world. It challenged the establishment and in any other world would have put Science Fiction on the mainstream map as a story telling medium. Alas, that road was a [.

In the last official part of “The Singularity” (yes there is an epilogue…) we look at the Movie Her. This is an important part of the discussion on the singularity as human relationships are evolving through technology in the same[...]

Mass Effect explores almost every portion of the singularity and has provides all manner of answers to how it will work. The best part is you can try out multiple answers to the same problem. In this 2 part episode we look specifically at the sing[.

Mass Effect explores almost every portion of the singularity and has provides all manner of answers to how it will work. The best part is you can try out multiple answers to the same problem. In this 2 part episode we look specifically at the sing[.

The Hitchhikers Guide TV series follows a similar storyline to the Vinyl edition, swapping out the Hagunemnon for an epic sun dive during a rock concert. With it’s 80’s British TV charms there is a lot to like about the TV Series. It f[...]

This is the story of Pinocchio set in the modern world. Unlike Pinocchio, David is in fact conceivable as a creation and as such the question is not “Can I ever be a real boy” but when will the world work out there isn’t that much[...]

When you think militaristic robots gone awol, Terminator comes to mind. The unstoppable machine hell bent on destroying the Connor family are the poster children for the Singularity gone wrong. Skynet has it in for humanity, in particular it[...]

The dark crystal is one of those movies which you either love or hate. Personally I loved it, it’s imaginative, crazy and has some great central characters. It also demonstrates the power of strong female characters.
Kira embodies a great ma[...]

Number 5 is alive! We are back in the eighties where Robots were innocent, well except when checking out software and men were naive. Well not much has changed really. This movie is a lot of fun and proves you can present scientific concepts in a[

CleanHitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy – The Restaurant at the end of the Universe Book

The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, aka the day Douglas Adams discovered cut and paste.
This book is actually something of a technical challenge given portions were hand written and cut and paste was actually somewhat new technology at least [...

It seems a little odd to me that the two films that have really caught my attention this year are a french black and white film and a silent film. In both cases it’s the story telling, without the distraction of effects or modern demands to f[...]

Cocoon is the last entry into our first contact series and is the most complex character wise. Each of our entries has had a quite different take on first contact, from war to alien superintelligences and this one is no different. Three occupants [.

Chloe Grace Moretz has been in a heap of movies since Kick Ass and built up a pretty big profile. While she isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, movies such as Hick prove she has some serious acting ability.
I loved her in Kick Ass and in many [...]

The martian is travelling and fish whispering so here is an episode we recorded earlier in the year, will release the cocoon episode next week.
I did have a look at this previously under special muffins of the apocalypse but seeing as there is a sec[...

But wait theres more. There can’t be too many instances of a story making it to radio before Novelisation but then Douglas Adams is not a conventional man. The novel follows the original radio play but with some important differences which w[...]

Evolution is funny. In the right mood I have a good laugh but I need my brain switched off to do so. On the other hand I enjoy the aliens in Evolution every time I watch it and despite a dozen viewings too date, I always end it wanting more.
Of al[.

We’ve all been down on our luck but Robert seems to have made an art of it. Still the good folk of Lybourne are always there to help even when Robert starts to act very odd indeed. What is Roberts hiding?

Independence Day is a bit like Avatar. At the time it was a big thing but over time it’s kinda been put in the bin. In part that’s because while the setup is great the payoff is not so great in many peoples eyes. I won’t argue t[...]

Who is Zarniwhoop and why is he on an interstellar cruise in his office? This is a very important question which needs a podcast to address. Equally important is the question of why Douglas doesn’t seem to be able to find shoes that fit him.[...]

Back in the 1980’s people put beer on the bottom shelf of their fridge in reach of the children… (Think about that for a moment). This is the story of two beings that come from very different worlds that overcome their differences to be[...]

In the second episode of our Heroine Case Series we look at the first movie in the Kick Ass series, specifically the character Hit Girl. I avoided watching this movie as I didn’t think it would be any good but couldn’t be happier to say[...]

Another in our First Contact Series, this time we have a look at Close Encounters of the Third Kind. If you ever wondered what a legitimate presentation of the Alien Conspiracy theories would look like, look no further as Close Encounters covers a [..

Like all good stories, the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy kicks off with the careless destruction of the earth in what could be considered to be an act of death by bureaucracy. This made a lot of people happy and has been widely considered to be a[..

Widely considered the best science fiction movie, if not the best movie ever at some point we were going to have to cover this film. While there is no doubt it is brilliant and demonstrates that science fiction is a serious medium it’s not [...]

Kicking off the Heroine Cast on Highway to Mars a discussion we had on the movie Gravity featuring the Apocalypse before she became a moody teen. Gravity was a great movie but also part of the growing list of movies carried by actresses.
There will[..

We drift a little off the conventional path with a black and white subtitled piece. I really enjoyed this piece not least because the character development is in general really good. This highlights my general disconnect with modern SF and Comic s[

I am done with Zombies. Having said that, this was a huge surprise to me, firstly because Arnie is good at something other than smacking up bad guys and second because despite the fact I thought there was nothing left to say on Zombies, this movie [..

So, Deadpool. This is all sorts of fun and then some! I have been waiting for this and I wasn’t disappointed. No, it’s not super packed with story but in many ways that is so refreshing because instead we get to know the character ins[...]

So we have a new star wars and after the “disappointment” of the prequels pretty much anything that doesn’t suck will be successful. That said, having seen the movie it’s a whole lot of fun in all the right ways and I enjoye[...]

This week on Highway to Mars we look at three pieces of science fiction from the perspective of what they can tell us about the country of origin. In this case we have Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy (TV Series), Mad Max (Original Movie) and Indepe[..

Sharks have a bit of a reputation for attacking humans and Jaws is the apex predator of Shark movies. That said it leaves a fair bit to be desired in ascribing dark motivations to the shark and I have no doubt it has played a role in our feeling ab[..

This is one of those you have to experience kind of movies, there is no way to easily describe it. I enjoyed this one in a way I haven’t enjoyed movies for a long time and it rightly deserves to be listed as a sci-fi classic. It takes the ge[...]

This week on HWTM we look at two transhumanist movies that explore the same idea (that we can use more of our brain via chemical means) from quite different perspectives. I look not just at the ideas but some of the science and explore the central [..

Falling Skies series 5 promises Apocalypse Now, then seems to forget that. Far from driving to a conclusion it wanders all over the place with stories that seem out of place with the state of the world and the war. It’s not all bad, there ar[...]

The Pern series is iconic in science fiction terms and this week we look at two of the Pern – DragonsDawn and All the Weyrs of Pern to look not just at the role they play in the Pern universe but the interesting ideas that relate to our world.

A taut thriller that succeeds in dealing with the rise of AI where many have failed. I’d buy that. This is an excellent movie that on the one hands delivers a great story about AI and on the other subverts the mythology of relationship arche[...]

This is not a movie I expected to be covering but when another planned podcast was derailed I thought I would give it a try. I always have trepidation with movies that have strong critical reviews because I often don’t like them but this one [...]

We haven’t covered too many animated series on HWTM and this one is definitely one worthy of mention. Detentionaire makes a virtue of that dreaded part of High School combining mystery and science fiction with many of the things anyone who ha[...]

We have done a couple of episodes on Bioshock but really neither of them have in any way done the series justice. So rebooting (hey even podcasts can get a reboot!) I look at Bioshock Infinite a second time and in the process discover what might no[..

The “G-Man” is back. Gareth Edwards is back after compiling the longest set of shows on a topic highway to mars is likely to ever see, to talk the movie “The Giver”. This is a movie that wasn’t super successful but it[...]

I avoided this one at the cinemas as I was bitten by Elysium and didn’t want to end up disappointed. In the end I wasn’t but probably not due to the Science Fiction. Chappie doesn’t have a lot to add to the science fiction canon [...]

NO THIS ISN’T THE SOUTH KOREAN VERSION. So for a challenge I decided to watch The Host, the Stephanie Myers teenage Sci-Fi/Romance. First this wasn’t as bad as I was expecting, in fact in many ways I enjoyed it. Second, it’s pre[...]

I didn’t watch this when it came out. The reviews were largely negative and friends told me it was awful. I had enjoyed children of earth, so I really didn’t want to spoil that if it was so bad. Serves me right.
So on reflection, havi[...]

I am not a gamer, nor do I pretend to be. I do however enjoy games as a storytelling medium and in that context Mass Effect is a game in a league of it’s own. This is by far the richest story of any game series and with it’s dynamics o[...]

So this is one the Apocalypse and I were going to do around 2013. I always expected we would have a bit of an argument on this one, it took a bit but finally we found something to disagree on! I put it down to the fact she was ill but when her dan[.

So yet again I am late to the party but this year I finally caught up with Eureka. On premise I didn’t really expect to like this show which is why I avoided it (who else does that???). That said when I got through the first episode, I was h[...]

Well this one seemed to divide the fans, especially over Black Widow. Funny thing about heros (super or otherwise) is we idolise them, then when they don’t reflect the values we want we tend to get pissed. All the same I loved it, I don[...]

Rabbit joins me for the first time in a couple of years to talk Warehouse 13 – Season 3-5. We both really enjoyed the final three seasons and even though we mainly cover the core storyline as that is long enough Rabbit makes sure we talk some[...]

I cover the first of the Bioshock Series which is an interesting deviation into storytelling via games. The richness of the world is compelling, the story has twists and turns and is gripping but from a pure storytelling point of view the conflict [..

Every now and again there is a series that comes along and breaks my expectations. This is very much such a series. I went in expecting to be bored and hating it and walked away tearing out my hair that the show ended within 5 seasons. To kick it[

Were Back! The Book Podcast has been on Hiatus for a year now, so with the new years episode you get two podcasts for the price of one. This is a Thomgoria/Highway to Mars special crossover for a book that was only released in June, making it the [...

Well we end the year the way we intended to start it. The apocalype joins me to talk the best Doctor Who episode of the year. Moffat definitely save the best for last by us martians. Hope everyone has had an excellent christmas.

So Doctor Who is gone for another year. The Apocalypse has decided to break up with the good doctor while I enjoyed it. So rather than adding much more to the volumes already spoken about Doctor Who we look at the generations and their perspective[...

So I finally managed to find time to go to *a* movie with the Apocalypse. As it turns out most of the movies we have made it to in the past 12 months are Dystopian Future, so we thought we would talk Dystopian future and why it resonates so much wi[..

The doctor has twice been put on trial for crimes by his people, been convicted of interfering (to do good) and forced to regenerate, has faced countless moral quandaries and saved the universe more times than I have had baked beans on toast, which [...

Okay so the right way to play a game series is to start at the end, bumble through clueless then go back to the beginning and spend the next whatever going oooooooohhhh…. Riiiiggghhhttt. This was the exercise I undertook at the beginning of t[...]

As we kick back into Highway to Mars we are going to be covering a lot of beginnings and endings and how things change. One that is likely to cause a lot of discussion in the coming months is the transition between Matt Smith and Peter Capaldi. The [...

So Martian Central has been busy fishing and Sci-fi work has been hard to come by. However just after breakfast the Apocalyse and I took out time to challenge each other to a science fiction quiz and of course I totally pned her teenage ass. Reall[...

Stranger in a Strange Land is one of those must reads in science fiction. In part it is an examination of us as humans, in part it is a mirror to us and in part it’s Heinleins examination of things in politics, religion and society that were [...]

Metal men facing off against one another? What better challenge to throw at the apocalypse. Nobody likes the new robocop, let’s just get that out of the way but I thought this might be a bit of fun to compare the two at the risk of the inter[...]

NOOOOOOOOOO!!!! They cried. How can you do this? Now I have been among those that have said no to a remake on the grounds of love for the original. It’s a habit I am trying to kick and for the past year in general I have managed to stay cle[...]

Almost Human is a futuristic cop show good on the entertainment but doesn’t add much to our understanding of it’s subject matter – robots. Robots in the Almost Human world come in two forms, the ken doll and the human lite. The k[...]

Every now and again there is comes along a movie that disappoints, not on content but because it shows off everything that science fiction can do and then gets put into the bucket called niche market. This is what happened to Her, in my neck of the[...

Christmas wouldn’t be christmas without the Doctor Who christmas special. Yet they have been a variable fare of the year for the post Christmas Diner, some have been a pretty good accompaniment to the meal but some have been pretty meh. We h[...]

Speaker for the Dead is the best book I have read all year bar none. If there was a book that I could say encloses all that is Science Fiction and Sci-Fi in one book this is it, or probably more accurately the Enders Game/Speaker for the Dead duo i[...

Everyone does christmas shows don’t they? Well I am not big on christmas and I think that instead of soppy feel good stories we need some good old fashioned time travel, Deloreans and rock and roll. This is one of my favourite movies ever bu[...]

This is the third of Iain Banks Culture novel series. True to it’s title Use of Weapons explores how just about anything can be a weapon, a look, a kiss, a chair, a gun, a missile. In one direction (moving forward) the novel follows the atte[...]

Books vs Movies is always hard, especially when the book is one of the most celebrated books in all of science fiction. Hard as I try, I can’t avoid comparing the two. However that aside the reality is the movie is good, for the most part it[...]

The Apocalyse joined me to watch both versions of Carrie in a single day. Both versions are awesome, the 1976 version gets it about bang on for me but the modern version has quite a lot to like, not least Chloe Grace Moretz. We both love the story[...

The martian household has been looking forward to catching fire and we were not disappointed. Katniss is the unintended hero, her actions starting a fire in the community that she can’t control. I enjoy the fact that for once the hero isn[...]

Rating “B” Grade movies is hard at times because it’s hardly fair to compare them against modern, slick, well funded productions. This movie I looked at as a developing film, the acting isn’t fantastic but still there are so[...]

So, the Day of the Doctor. Stephen Moffat has been hoarding Dr Who action figures for years and this episode is his best shot at increasing their value by claiming the “10th Doctor Action Figure” with David Tennant is a misprint. That [...]

Yes I know it’s the 50th but while everyone was busy celebrating Odile and I caught up to talk Enders Game, the book that is. The movie isn’t out in Oz until the 5th of december so I thought I would review the book ahead of that outing.[...]

The Doctor Who 50th is meant to be fun isn’t it??? The Apocalypse joined me to have a less serious look at The Night of the Doctor, the short pre 50th story. If you haven’t seen it, make sure you do, it will only take 6 mins.

This is a beautiful movie that tries to tell a really complex story and in some ways succeeds in others fails. The smaller character driven stories in this rock as does the first of the future dystopian stories. The other half of the stories are w[...

Mutants that can use telepathy, telekinesis and teleportation walk among us. They are sexy and they can’t kill. Dayam. I loved the 1970s version of the Tomorrow people so it was with great trepidation that I went into this one. I have been [...]

I don’t often want a happy ending, I am not against them but to want it you have to feel like the characters have earned it. More to the point if they have earned it but don’t get it you want a good reason. Damnation because you are [...]

I am not a huge Thor fan and this installment didn’t make me a fan but it was fun. Kat Dennings and Tom Hiddleston are obviously having a ball and despite providing and perfect demonstration of why Gods should never have children, Anthony Hop[...]

Do not believe the press that this book gets. If you have seen the movie, disregard it. In it’s heart this is a thoughtful examination of the process of taking a normal person and turning them into a soldier. This shares some similarities w[...]

Agents of SHIELD carries the Whedon name so it’s going to be highly anticipated. Having said that it’s so far been quite un-Joss like. Not a lot of memorable dialogue, or characters that grab me is not exactly what I expected. I can[...]

This martian is officially in uncharted waters. With the theme of the show being exploring the universe of science fiction it’s nice when we divert from ground I haven’t been over and this was a big diversion. I took a little time to w[...]

How did The Apocalypse put again, oh yeah, ROBERT F***ING CARLYLE. For a number of reasons this movie isn’t as loved as the original but you have to say that Carlyle takes zombiedom to a whole new level and his character arc is just awesome. [...]

Don’t go looking at the physics, put away your text book rage and just enjoy the ride. This is an awesome film, that owes a LOT to Ray Bradbury’s “Kaleidoscope” and while the ending is different, the themes are the same, what[...]

Fandom is an interesting thing. From the early days of geeks at late night venues talking doctor who to the modern fandom that has real power and ability to influence the shows they follow. Gareth joins me with the Apocalypse to talk about fandom [.

The illustrated man is a widely celebrated collection of short stories by Ray Bradbury. As with all anthologies, there are some bright starts, then lesser lights usually because there is another story with the same theme that’s better. The f[...]

Okay now I did have some trepidation about this movie but in all honesty – It’s the Bomb. I don’t often give movies a 10 but this one I do, only minor disappointment was that Jesse and Woody didn’t have much time to spark of[...]

I haven’t played it but I have watched a play through and by god this is a beautiful game. Science fiction, retro with an impressive storyline and fantastic characters. Gareth talks Bioshock for me and now I soooo want to play the game.

Never kick a martian in the chronicles. Odile, Jim and Stefan work their way through Ray Bradbury’s collection of stories. This one is an epic and apologies for issues with the sound, Odile’s mic was having an off day – it needed[...]

Al and I catch up on Series 3. Aliens, Explosions, Intrigue, not to mention Body Snatching. This is every kind of invasion story all wrapped up in one and it does an awesome job while it’s at it. Facing up to limitations both technical and [...]

For some reason Superman is something of a polarising figure, maybe because he represents something America aspires to be but falls short of, so he is the twin ideal and reminder of failings. Either way this version is either great or crap dependin[...

We like being meta on Highway to Mars and what is more meta than a podcast on a podcast, well I guess we could review a podcast that reviews podcasts but that would be silly now wouldn’t it. (File in ideas bank). Shake and Blake is an awesom[...]

World War Z, awesome Zombie movie and while we have probably had “enough” Zombie movies over the past few years it was nice to see a movie that treated them seriously. It had all of us on the edge of our seats and it’s been a whil[...]

The first of the Vin Diesel/Riddick movies and to be honest a fine start. While I don’t totally get the Riddick character here (is he a sick twisted evil man or just misunderstood?) there are a couple of really good characters and the premise[...]

Jackie Chan and Jet Li is one of the dream matchups in martial arts movies. Forbidden Kingdom is an iconic story, worthy of these two giants, not so sure about the addition of a karate kid style extra but lets be honest, when Jackie and Jet are in [...

Fast 6 is Bitchin’. Not exactly a clever story but it does have a heart, the set pieces are fun and the fighting is refreshingly real. Scary but short of Iron Man, this might be one of the movies I most enjoyed for the year.

An additional irregular episode where we talk about subjects in and around science fiction. Kiarra shared some of her experiences being a teenager and provided some definite food for thought on how we see where young people are at, their challenges[...

A Highway to Mars special that nobody was demanding but we did it anyway. In 2003 a couple of enterprising Aussie filmakers Michael and Peter Spierig made a clever but not exactly brilliantly dialogued Zombie Sci-fi movie called Undead. So in orde[...

More value than ever from highway to mars. Kiarra hands out relationships advice to some fictional characters who clearly need it and the Doctor Who fans are getting on my nerves. Having said that enjoying who for the first time in a long time, ca[...

Normal Service is resumed. Our Audience is safe this week as Odile restores order with Sharon McGuiness as we discuss one of the best post apocalyptic stories ever. Wyndham got killer plants spot on, something that really hasn’t been repeated [...]

At the risk of offending the 2 fans we have left, I let kiarra loose on Dr Who and well she excelled, insulting fan boys, taking pot shots at the tardis and of course once more getting us an explicit tag. She tells me it’s a phase but its onl[...]

What can I say, it’s the fifth element. One of the most fun movies in science fiction and one of our favourites. Joined once again by Kiarra, who can’t stop wiggling and knocking the table thus next podcast we are getting a mic stand u[...]

There will be a normal episode next week, either Day of the Triffids or The Fifth Element. This week a minisode on Dr Who The Cold War. Loved this episode, it wasn’t the best ever but after a spate of episodes that haven’t really done [...]

Last year we recorded a set of minisodes for Doctor Who where we talked about the latest episode just after it came out well why not everyone else does. The recording equipment didn’t live up to the task so we never put them out, but I decid[...]

A little later than planned due to easter but Kiarra joined me for a romp through the awesome zombie movie, Zombieland. Kiarra is going to do a regular with me and we might even do a bunch of Zombie movies, including Shaun of the Dead and 28 Days. [...

This episode Odile takes the chair once more and is joined by Jim Moon and Stefan to talk the Midwich Cuckoos. This was a three in one episode because we cover the book and two movies the best of which is the 1960s version, The Village of the Damne[...

The genius that is Jim Henson. This is the best of the Henson Movies for me and I had a lot of fun talking The Dark Crystal with Sarah Gilbertson. There is a twist here, because this is a joint podcast for another podcast I am working on we focus a[...

This year there will be a few shows on some of the older science fiction that forms the foundation of “sci-fi” or “syfy” as we know it today. This episode we discuss a little known book by Clive Staples (CS) Lewis of Narnia [...]

Odile takes the helm once more for a look at the last of John Wyndham’s Novels Chocky. Chocky was turned into a TV series in the ’80s and we touched on it especially as it was told from Mathews point of view. If you haven’t read [...]

In our last podcast for 2012 we look at Life Day, AKA Christmas as Rick and Simon join me to discuss Christmas Specials the good, the bad, the sci-fi and UGH the christmas carol. We compare how the US and the UK view christmas as well as the differ[...

Stefan has escaped his bonds, only to discover that someone has stole his beer. While he is looking for it, Gareth Edwards is joined by Timothy Wetzel to talk about the surprize hit from Valve.
They both discuss how the game play is and what they l[...

What would a modern audience think of 1970’s TV? Does it still stack up today in this world of CGI, action and adventure. Odile loaned a copy of Children of the Stones to her students in order to find out.